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Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick on DVD

This acclaimed award-winning documentary explores the life and times of the prolific American filmmaker, William A. Wellman, as well as examining the social fabric of an emerging popular culture that he was helping to construct.

New Books

Hank & Jim: The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart

By Scott Eyman

Henry Fonda and James Stewart were two of the biggest stars in Hollywood for forty years. They became friends and then roommates as stage actors in New York, and when they began making films in Hollywood, they roomed together again. Between them they made such memorable films as The Grapes of Wrath, Mister Roberts, Twelve Angry Men, and On Golden Pond; and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Destry Rides Again, The Philadelphia Story, It's a Wonderful Life, Vertigo, and Rear Window.

They got along famously, with a shared interest in elaborate practical jokes and model airplanes, among other things. Fonda was a liberal Democrat, Stewart a conservative Republican, but after one memorable blow-up over politics, they agreed never to discuss that subject again. Fonda was a ladies' man who was married five times; Stewart remained married to the same woman for forty-five years. Both men volunteered during World War II and were decorated for their service. When Stewart returned home, still unmarried, he once again moved in with Fonda, his wife, and his two children, Jane and Peter, who knew him as Uncle Jimmy.

For Hank and Jim, biographer and film historian Scott Eyman spoke with Fonda's widow and children as well as three of Stewart's children, plus actors and directors who had worked with the men--in addition to doing extensive archival research to get the full details of their time together. This is not another Hollywood story, but a fascinating portrait of an extraordinary friendship that lasted through war, marriages, children, careers, and everything else.

Scott Eyman has written fifteen books, three of them New York Times bestsellers, including John Wayne: The Life and Legend. His most recent book is Hank and Jim. He has been awarded the William K. Everson Award for Film History by the National Board of Review. He teaches film history at the University of Miami and lives in West Palm Beach with his wife, Lynn.

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Michael Curtiz: A Life in Film

Academy Award®-winning director Michael Curtiz (1886-1962)--whose best-known films include Casablanca (1942), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Mildred Pierce (1945) and White Christmas (1954)--was in many ways the anti-auteur. During his unprecedented twenty-seven-year tenure at Warner Bros., he directed swashbuckling adventures, westerns, musicals, war epics, historical dramas, horror films, melodramas, comedies, and film noir masterpieces. The director's staggering output of 180 films surpasses that of the legendary John Ford and exceeds the combined total of films directed by George Cukor, Victor Fleming, and Howard Hawks.

In the first biography of this colorful, instinctual artist, Alan K. Rode illuminates the life and work of one of the film industry's most complex figures. He begins by exploring the director's early life and career in his native Hungary, revealing how Curtiz shaped the earliest days of silent cinema in Europe as he acted in, produced, and directed scores of films before immigrating to the United States in 1926. In Hollywood, Curtiz earned a reputation for his explosive tantrums and his difficulty communicating in English. However, few directors elicited more memorable portrayals from their casts, and ten different actors delivered Oscar®-nominated performances under his direction.

Rode also investigates Curtiz's dramatic personal life, discussing his enduring creative partnership with his wife, screenwriter Bess Meredyth, as well as his numerous affairs and children born of his extramarital relationships. His meticulously researched biography provides a nuanced understanding of one of the most talented filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age.

Writer and film scholar Alan K. Rode is the author of Charles McGraw: Film Noir Tough Guy. He is the host and producer of the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival in Palm Springs, California, and director-treasurer of the Film Noir Foundation.

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Start to Finish: Woody Allen and the Art of Moviemaking

by Eric Lax

Start to Finish: Woody Allen and the Art of Moviemaking (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group) is a cinephile's dream: the chance to follow legendary director Woody Allen throughout the creation of a film-from inception to premiere-and to enjoy his reflections on some of the finest artists in the history of cinema.

Eric Lax has been with Woody Allen almost every step of the way. He chronicled Allen's transformation from stand-up comedian to filmmaker in On Being Funny (1975). His international best seller, Woody Allen: A Biography (1991), was a portrait of a director hitting his stride. Conversations with Woody Allen comprised interviews that illustrated Allen's evolution from 1971 to 2008. Now, Lax invites us onto the set-and even further behind the scenes-of Allen's Irrational Man, which was released in 2015, and starred Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone. Revealing the intimate details of Allen's filmmaking process, Lax shows us the screenplay being shaped, the scenes being prepared, the actors, cinematographers, other crew members, the editors, all engaged in their work. We hear Allen's colleagues speak candidly about working with him, and Allen speaking with equal openness about his lifetime's work. An unprecedented revelation of one of the foremost filmmakers of our time, Start to Finish is sure to delight not only movie buffs and Allen fans, but everyone who has marveled at the seeming magic of the artistic process.

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Sophia Loren: Movie Star Italian Style

by Cindy De La Hoz

From the humblest of beginnings in her native Italy, Sophia Loren would flourish on the world stage as one of the most beautiful and talented actresses the screen has ever known. A prize in a beauty contest at age 16 led to a career that has lasted more than sixty years and performances in a diverse canon of films, including The Pride and the Passion, Houseboat, Marriage Italian Style, Grumpy Old Men, and Two Women, for which she was awarded the first Best Actress Oscar given to the star of a foreign film.

Sophia Loren: Movie Star Italian Style is a photographic tribute to the beloved icon, recounting the star's extraordinary life and notable films with famous costars and directors and quotes by Sophia and those who have known her best. Filled with hundreds of rare color and black-and-white photographs, it's a volume as stunning as its ageless subject.

Cindy De La Hoz is the author of several books on film and fashion- among them, Audrey and Givenchy, Lucy at the Movies, and Lana: The Memories, the Myths, the Movies, which Leonard Maltin called "one of the best books about a star I've ever read." She has also edited numerous books on film history and women's lifestyle subjects. Cindy lives in Philadelphia, PA.

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DVD Reviews

Dick Dinman & Alan K. Rode Salute CASABLANCA Director Michael Curtiz

DICK DINMAN & ALAN K. RODE SALUTE "CASABLANCA" DIRECTOR MICHAEL CURTIZ: Producer/host Dick Dinman's guest Alan K. Rode, author of the just released and universally praised bio MICHAEL CURTIZ: A LIFE IN FILM, regales Dick with numerous previously unknown facts about the incredible film career and chaotic romantic life of one of the most prolific and volatile yet sensitive film directors of all time.

The award-winning DICK DINMAN'S DVD CLASSICS CORNER ON THE AIR is the only show devoted to Golden Age Movie Classics as they become available on DVD and Blu-ray. Your producer/host Dick Dinman includes a generous selection of classic scenes, classic film music and one-on-one interviews with stars, producers, and directors. To hear these as well as other DVD CLASSICS CORNER ON THE AIR shows please go to www.dvdclassicscorner.com or www.dvdclassicscorner.net.

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Dick Dinman's "Best of '17" Classic Blu-ray Releases!

DICK DINMAN SALUTES YEAR'S BEST CLASSIC BLU-RAY RELEASES: Producer/host Dick Dinman picks his choices for the best classic Blu-ray releases of the year among which one of the biggest surprises is Classic Flix' s shockingly magnificent rendering of the brilliant Anthony Mann/John Alton noir masterwork T-MEN and guest Classic Flix head honcho David Kawas reveals the wallet-busting challenges inherit in restoring a classic previously only available in dupey second rate dvd renditions.

The award-winning DICK DINMAN'S DVD CLASSICS CORNER ON THE AIR is the only show devoted to Golden Age Movie Classics as they become available on DVD and Blu-ray. Your producer/host Dick Dinman includes a generous selection of classic scenes, classic film music and one-on-one interviews with stars, producers, and directors. To hear these as well as other DVD CLASSICS CORNER ON THE AIR shows please go to www.dvdclassicscorner.com or www.dvdclassicscorner.net.

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DICK DINMAN & GEORGE FELTENSTEIN SALUTE RESTORED & UNCUT "THE SEA WOLF"!: Warner Home Video's Senior Vice President of Classic and Theatrical Marketing George Feltenstein regales producer/host Dick Dinman with the arduous challenges inherent in bringing the Michael Curtiz classic THE SEA WOLF to it's full uncut glory for the first time in more than 60 years and both celebrate the Blu-ray releases of the lyrically romantic Gene Kelly/Cyd Charisse/Vincente Minnelli classic BRIGADOON as well as the long sought after Robert Taylor/Richard Widmark western thriller THE LAW & JAKE WADE and HELL ON FRISCO BAY in which Alan Ladd faces death in his revengefull quest to bring mobster king Edward G. Robinson to justice.
PLUS: George and Dick salute the continuing quality of The Criterion Collection as both preview Criterion's upcoming Oscar-winning comedy classic THE PHILADELPHIA STORY which will be restored from pristine newly discovered elements.

The award-winning DICK DINMAN'S DVD CLASSICS CORNER ON THE AIR is the only show devoted to Golden Age Movie Classics as they become available on DVD and Blu-ray. Your producer/host Dick Dinman includes a generous selection of classic scenes, classic film music and one-on-one interviews with stars, producers, and directors. To hear these as well as other DVD CLASSICS CORNER ON THE AIR shows please go to www.dvdclassicscorner.com or www.dvdclassicscorner.net.

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Dick Dinman & William Wellman Jr. Salute the BEGGARS OF LIFE!

DICK DINMAN & WILLIAM WELLMAN JR. SALUTE THE "BEGGARS OF LIFE": Popular author, actor, producer and raconteur William Wellman Jr. and producer/host Dick Dinman rave about Kino Lorber's marvelous Blu-ray release of legendary director William Wellman's favorite of his silent films BEGGARS OF LIFE in which the notorious Louise Brooks plays a train-hopping hobo who dresses like a boy to escape the law and discourage the lecherous advances of Wallace Beery and his rambunctious band of hoboes.

The award-winning DICK DINMAN'S DVD CLASSICS CORNER ON THE AIR is the only show devoted to Golden Age Movie Classics as they become available on DVD and Blu-ray. Your producer/host Dick Dinman includes a generous selection of classic scenes, classic film music and one-on-one interviews with stars, producers, and directors. To hear these as well as other DVD CLASSICS CORNER ON THE AIR shows please go to www.dvdclassicscorner.com or www.dvdclassicscorner.net.

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Dick Dinman & Eddie Muller Reach Their BREAKING POINT!

DICK DINMAN & EDDIE MULLER REACH THEIR "BREAKING POINT": TCM's acclaimed "Noir Alley" host Eddie Muller joins producer/host Dick Dinman in a noir-ish duet as both sing the praises of Michael Curtiz' alternately tough and tender John Garfield masterpiece THE BREAKING POINT (which Eddie feels is Curtiz' best directed feature) and the Criterion Collection's shimmeringly spotless Blu-ray release of this Warner Bros. gem is certain to restore this comparatively obscure film to it's rightful position as one of the finest film noir classics ever committed to celluloid.

The award-winning DICK DINMAN'S DVD CLASSICS CORNER ON THE AIR is the only show devoted to Golden Age Movie Classics as they become available on DVD and Blu-ray. Your producer/host Dick Dinman includes a generous selection of classic scenes, classic film music and one-on-one interviews with stars, producers, and directors. To hear these as well as other DVD CLASSICS CORNER ON THE AIR shows please go to www.dvdclassicscorner.com or www.dvdclassicscorner.net.

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Press Release

Web Reviewer Glenn Erickson Launches 'CineSavant'

Web reviewer Glenn Erickson, aka 'DVD Savant' has established a new home under a new identity, 'CineSavant.' Reviewing independently since 1998, the Savant database has grown to over five thousand reviews and articles, and become one of the most respected and sought-out review pages on the web for news and opinions about classic films on disc. Readership boomed when the page Trailers from Hell picked up Glenn's reviews as featured content in 2015.

A varied background helps add perspective to Glenn's reviews; from the UCLA Film School he worked in special effects, and then moved on to TV commercial work, and trailers for The Cannon Group. A long stint with MGM/UA Home Video led to editing large-scale DVD extras and other special projects. He began writing for the web in 1997 as 'MGM Video Savant.' Working with the film curators at MGM, Glenn helped detect and produced the restoration of the original ending of the film noir classic Kiss Me Deadly. Glenn has published two books of reviews, and has been writing and researching for TCM since 2004.

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Alec Baldwin to Host TCM's THE ESSENTIALS

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Library of America's The Moviegoer on LAURA

Library of America's new regular web feature called The Moviegoer is devoted to great films inspired by classic American writing. This biweekly column features columns by Megan Abbott, David Denby, Wendy Lesser, Charles McGrath, Farran Smith Nehme, Carrie Rickey,Terrence Rafferty, Harold Schechter, Michael Sragow, & others and launched on January 27, 2016.

American literature has proven an endlessly renewable resource for filmmakers, its originality and vitality inspiring whole catalogues of memorable movies. Now Library of America, the acclaimed nonprofit publisher of the nation's greatest writing, presents The Moviegoer, a biweekly column in which curator Michael Sragow (Film Comment) and other leading writers and critics offer fresh, penetrating examinations of the best of these films, gems that readers will want to revisit or watch for the first time. Standing at the intersection of classic American writing and classic filmmaking, The Moviegoer, offers not reviews but full scale reevaluations that explore the creative alchemy involved in translating a masterwork from page (or stage) to screen. It takes its inspiration, and its catholic compass, from the hero of Walker Percy's famous novel, and, in the words of curator Sragow, "aims to generate new enthusiasm for cinema as well as for literature."

To read the entry in the series on Laura by Megan Abbott and to sign up for an alert when a new Moviegoer is published, click here.

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FilmRise has announced the September 1 Blu-Ray and DVD release of Tab Hunter Confidential. After an incredible year on the film festival circuit and a theatrical run across fifty cities in the United States, the acclaimed documentary will be available to rent or own from all major retailers. Based on Hunter's New York Times best selling memoir, producer Allan Glaser and director Jeffrey Schwarz (I Am Divine) have assembled dozens of past and present Hollywood stars, and most importantly the man himself, to talk frankly about being a survivor of the Hollywood roller coaster. The Blu-Ray & DVD will be available nationwide at all major retailers, with autographed copies only available on Tab Hunter's official website, www.tabhunter.com. Click here to learn more and order Tab Hunter Confidential on Blu-Ray & DVD (with optional autograph).

Throughout the 1950s, Tab Hunter reigned as Hollywood's ultimate heartthrob. In dozens of films, and in the pages of countless magazines, Hunter's astonishing looks and golden-boy sex appeal drove his fans to screaming, delirious frenzy, solidifying him the prototype for all young matinee idols to come. Bristling against being just another pretty face and wanting to be taken seriously, Hunter was one of the few to be able to transcend pin-up boy status. He earned his stripes as an actor to become a major movie star and recording artist. But throughout his years of stardom, Hunter had a secret. He was gay, and spent his Hollywood years in a precarious closet that repeatedly threatened to implode and destroy him. Decades later, Hunter's dramatic, turbulent and ultimately inspiring life story has become an explosive documentary feature.

Tab Hunter Confidential offers unprecedented access to the man behind the marquee smile, who shares first hand what it was like to be a manufactured movie star during the Golden Age of Hollywood and the consequences of being someone totally different from his studio image. The film traces Hunter's dizzying rise to Hollywood super-stardom, his secret life in an era when being openly gay was unthinkable, and his ultimate triumph when the limelight finally passed him by and true love won.

Punctuating Tab's on-screen presence are rare film clips and provocative interviews with friends and co-stars including John Waters, Clint Eastwood, George Takei, Debbie Reynolds, Robert Wagner, Portia de Rossi, Noah Wyle, Connie Stevens, Robert Osborne, and dozens more.

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"Hank and Jim" Screenings at NYC's Film Forum - Oct. 27-Nov. 16

At the height of the Depression, struggling young New York actors Henry Fonda (from Omaha) and James Stewart (from Indiana, Pennsylvania) became best friends and stayed that way for the rest of their lives (despite political differences so extreme they had to declare a verbal moratorium), eventually becoming among the most respected and beloved of stars, and each embodying, in his own distinctive way, America's idea of itself.

Hank and Jim: the Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart, a new book by Scott Eyman (published by Simon & Schuster), will be available at our concession during the series.

Scott Eyman will introduce the following screenings, with a book signing after each film:

Scott Eyman is the author of fifteen books, three of them New York Times best-sellers. His subjects have included John Wayne, Cecil B. DeMille, Louis B. Mayer, John Ford, Ernst Lubitsch, Mary Pickford, and Hollywood's transition to sound film; he was also the co-author of Robert Wagner's autobiographies Pieces of My Heart: A Life and You Must Remember This. He has been awarded the William K. Everson Award for Film History by the National Board of Review. Eyman also teaches film history at the University of Miami.

Films in this Series

THE WRONG MAN & ROPE
Friday, October 27

THE WRONG MAN
12:30 4:15 8:00

ROPE
2:35 6:20 10:10
DOUBLE FEATURE: Two films for one admission. Tickets purchased entitle patrons to stay and see the following film at no additional charge.

12 ANGRY MEN & MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON
Saturday, October 28

12 ANGRY MEN
3:00 7:30

MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON
12:30 4:55
DOUBLE FEATURE: Two films for one admission. Tickets purchased entitle patrons to stay and see the following film at no additional charge.

VERTIGO
Saturday, October 28
9:30

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Sunday, October 29
1:30

ANATOMY OF A MURDER
Sunday, October 29
4:00

THE GRAPES OF WRATH
Sunday, October 29
7:00

12 ANGRY MEN
Sunday, October 29
9:30

DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK & FORT APACHE
Monday, October 30

DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK
12:30 5:05 9:45

FORT APACHE
2:35 7:15
DOUBLE FEATURE: Two films for one admission. Tickets purchased entitle patrons to stay and see the following film at no additional charge.

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Tuesday, October 31
12:30

BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE
Tuesday, October 31
3:00 7:40

VERTIGO
Tuesday, October 31
5:10 9:45

THE OX-BOW INCIDENT & BROKEN ARROW
Wednesday, November 1

THE OX-BOW INCIDENT
12:30 3:50 7:15

BROKEN ARROW
2:05 5:25 8:50
DOUBLE FEATURE: Two films for one admission. Tickets purchased entitle patrons to stay and see the following film at no additional charge.

WINCHESTER '73 & BEND OF THE RIVER
Thursday, November 2

WINCHESTER '73
12:30 4:15 8:00

BEND OF THE RIVER
2:25 6:10 9:55
DOUBLE FEATURE: Two films for one admission. Tickets purchased entitle patrons to stay and see the following film at no additional charge.

THE PHILADELPHIA STORY
Friday, November 3
12:30 4:45 9:00

THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER
Friday, November 3
2:45 7:00

CALL NORTHSIDE 777 & THE BOSTON STRANGLER
Saturday, November 4

CALL NORTHSIDE 777
2:45 7:10

THE BOSTON STRANGLER
12:30 4:55 9:20
DOUBLE FEATURE: Two films for one admission. Tickets purchased entitle patrons to stay and see the following film at no additional charge.

THE GRAPES OF WRATH
Sunday, November 5
1:30

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST
Sunday, November 5
4:15

REAR WINDOW
Sunday, November 5
7:30

THE MOON'S OUR HOME & NEXT TIME WE LOVE
Monday, November 6

THE MOON'S OUR HOME
12:30 4:05 7:40

NEXT TIME WE LOVE
2:15 5:50
DOUBLE FEATURE: Two films for one admission. Tickets purchased entitle patrons to stay and see the following film at no additional charge.

THE LADY EVE
Monday, November 6
9:30

YOUNG MR. LINCOLN & JEZEBEL
Tuesday, November 7

JEZEBEL
12:30 4:30 8:40

YOUNG MR. LINCOLN
2:30 6:35
DOUBLE FEATURE: Two films for one admission. Tickets purchased entitle patrons to stay and see the following film at no additional charge.

DESTRY RIDES AGAIN & DAISY KENYON
Wednesday, November 8

DESTRY RIDES AGAIN
2:30 6:35

DAISY KENYON
12:30 4:25 8:30
DOUBLE FEATURE: Two films for one admission. Tickets purchased entitle patrons to stay and see the following film at no additional charge.

THE GRAPES OF WRATH
Thursday, November 9
1:00 3:30

YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE
Thursday, November 9
6:30

REAR WINDOW
Friday, November 10
12:30 5:15 10:00

VERTIGO
Friday, November 10
2:45 7:30

THE LADY EVE
Saturday, November 11
12:30 4:45 9:00

THE PHILADELPHIA STORY
Saturday, November 11
2:30 6:45

THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE & THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
Sunday, November 12

THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE
1:30 6:15

THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
3:55 8:45
DOUBLE FEATURE: Two films for one admission. Tickets purchased entitle patrons to stay and see the following film at no additional charge.

THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE & THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
Monday, November 13

THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE
12:30 5:15

THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
2:55
DOUBLE FEATURE: Two films for one admission. Tickets purchased entitle patrons to stay and see the following film at no additional charge.

FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX
Monday, November 13
7:45

FAIL-SAFE & THE BEST MAN
Tuesday, November 14

FAIL-SAFE
12:30 4:45 9:10

THE BEST MAN
2:40 7:00
DOUBLE FEATURE: Two films for one admission. Tickets purchased entitle patrons to stay and see the following film at no additional charge.

THE FAR COUNTRY & THE NAKED SPUR
Wednesday, November 15

THE FAR COUNTRY
12:30 4:20 8:10

THE NAKED SPUR
2:30 6:20 10:10
DOUBLE FEATURE: Two films for one admission. Tickets purchased entitle patrons to stay and see the following film at no additional charge.